{"id":5927,"date":"2026-07-14T13:30:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T08:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=5927"},"modified":"2026-07-14T13:30:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T08:30:53","slug":"trump-cuts-nearly-3m-acres-from-2-utah-national-monuments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=5927","title":{"rendered":"Trump cuts nearly 3M acres from 2 Utah national monuments"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/JXaXPpjqXhP90w9s-p4rcf10gkg=\/0x0:1920x1080\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/13\/1783961066936.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/politics-policy\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\">Trump<\/a> is decimating both Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters: <\/strong>Monday&#8217;s orders reduce protections on nearly 3 million acres in southern <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/local\/salt-lake-city\" target=\"_blank\">Utah<\/a>, affecting more than 90% of each monument&#8217;s area.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Driving the news:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/local\/salt-lake-city\/2025\/01\/08\/trump-bears-ears-grand-staircase-escalante-rally-slc-suwa\" target=\"_blank\">Grand Staircase-Escalante<\/a> will <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2026\/07\/modifying-the-grand-staircase-escalante-national-monument\/\" target=\"_blank\">lose<\/a> nearly 1.7 of its 1.87 million acres<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2021\/09\/28\/tribes-urge-biden-restore-bears-ears-monument\" target=\"_blank\">Bears Ears<\/a>&#8216; 1.36 million acres will be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2026\/07\/modifying-the-bears-ears-national-monument\/\" target=\"_blank\">reduced<\/a> to about 121,000.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The big picture: <\/strong>The cuts are far more drastic than in 2017, when Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2017\/12\/16\/trump-shrinks-utah-national-monuments-by-millions-of-acres-1513388386\" target=\"_blank\">eliminated<\/a> almost half of Grand Staircase-Escalante and 85% of Bears Ears in what was then the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/12\/04\/us\/trump-bears-ears.html\" target=\"_blank\">largest reduction<\/a> of federal land protections in U.S. history.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/politics-policy\/joe-biden\" target=\"_blank\">Biden<\/a> administration restored the previous boundaries in 2021 and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bearsearscoalition.org\/biden-restores-bears-ears-national-monuments\/\" target=\"_blank\">added<\/a> 12,000 acres to Bears Ears.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Between the lines:<\/strong> Monday&#8217;s cuts have been expected since last year, when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/climate-environment\/2025\/04\/24\/trump-national-monument-reductions-mining-oil\/\" target=\"_blank\">Trump ordered<\/a> his administration to find public lands to expand drilling and mining in the West.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Reality check:<\/strong> The practicality of extraction at the monuments has been debated for years.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Although parcels <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kuer.org\/health-science-environment\/2021-06-01\/energy-developers-and-uranium-miners-eye-land-near-bears-ears-national-monument\" target=\"_blank\">were nominated for drilling leases<\/a> before Biden restored the original Bears Ears boundaries, Utah officials have said there is &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20200123193100\/https%3A\/\/naturalresources.utah.gov\/dnr-newsfeed\/very-little-energy-potential-within-bears-ears-national-monument\/\" target=\"_blank\">very little energy potential<\/a>&#8221; at the monument.<\/li>\n<li>Uranium mining is more realistic. Trump originally shrank Bears Ears <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national\/health-science\/uranium-firm-urged-trump-officials-to-shrink-bears-ears-national-monument\/2017\/12\/08\/2eea39b6-dc31-11e7-b1a8-62589434a581_story.html\" target=\"_blank\">after industry pressure<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandcanyontrust.org\/news\/trump-working-group-recommends-assistance-uranium-companies-eyeing-grand-canyon\/\" target=\"_blank\">conservation<\/a> groups <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wilderness.org\/articles\/blog\/threat-bears-ears-increases-drilling-and-mining-news\" target=\"_blank\">say<\/a> one uranium mine was reopened within the monument.<\/li>\n<li>A large coal deposit exists within the original boundaries of Grand Staircase-Escalante. But mining there wasn&#8217;t considered <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/graphics\/2019\/national\/environment\/will-anyone-mine-after-grand-staircase-escalante-reduction-by-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\">profitable enough<\/a> for companies to dig <a href=\"https:\/\/insideclimatenews.org\/news\/07022020\/national-monument-extraction-emissons-bear-ears-grand-staircase-escalante\/\" target=\"_blank\">after<\/a> Trump opened the land during his first term.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Caveat:<\/strong> Not all of the lands removed from the monuments are totally unprotected.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Some sites remain within federal Wilderness Study Areas and Areas of Environmental Concern \u2014 designations that shield them from development, at least for now.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Yes, but: <\/strong>Trump&#8217;s Interior Department last month <a href=\"https:\/\/www.doi.gov\/pressreleases\/interior-begins-nationwide-review-rock-climbing-management-and-wilderness-study-area\" target=\"_blank\">announced a review<\/a> of policies around WSAs, which <a href=\"https:\/\/westernpriorities.org\/2026\/06\/interior-lays-the-groundwork-for-attacks-on-wilderness-and-wildlands\/\" target=\"_blank\">conservation groups<\/a> say could weaken the protections they offer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How it works: <\/strong>National monuments are created by presidential proclamation under the Antiquities Act to protect places of historic, prehistoric or scientific interest.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>By contrast, national parks are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/parkhistory\/online_books\/portfolio\/portfolio0b.htm\" target=\"_blank\">created by Congress<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Catch up quick: <\/strong>Former President Obama established Bears Ears in 2016 to be managed in cooperation with Indigenous tribes near the Four Corners.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Clinton administration created the largest-ever U.S. national monument when he announced Grand Staircase-Escalante in 1996.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What&#8217;s inside:<\/strong> The monuments include ancient ruins, fossils, rock art and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sltrib.com\/news\/2017\/12\/09\/what-will-the-reduction-of-grand-staircase-escalante-national-monument-mean-for-popular-hiking-trails-and-sites\/\" target=\"_blank\">many beloved<\/a> recreation destinations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>State of play:<\/strong> Both have enraged Utah Republicans, who have long argued for smaller boundaries and less restrictive protections to allow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2020\/02\/06\/utah-drilling-national-parks-trump-administration\" target=\"_blank\">potential expansion<\/a> of drilling, mining, off-roading and grazing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What&#8217;s next:<\/strong> The monuments&#8217; shifting boundaries have left unresolved legal questions as to whether a president can unilaterally withdraw a predecessor&#8217;s protections.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The latest cuts will likely revive arguments from a <a href=\"https:\/\/suwa.org\/suwa-groups-file-lawsuit-president-trump-illegally-axes-bears-ears-national-monument\/\" target=\"_blank\">2017 lawsuit<\/a> that claims Trump had no authority to rescind a monument.<\/li>\n<li>A similar dispute is at play in a lawsuit Utah officials <a href=\"https:\/\/attorneygeneral.utah.gov\/2022\/08\/24\/utah-challenges-unlawful-designation-of-national-monuments\/\" target=\"_blank\">filed<\/a> in 2022 to stop Biden&#8217;s restoration of the monuments. A federal judge <a href=\"https:\/\/attorneygeneral.utah.gov\/2023\/08\/10\/ag-reyes-opposes-biden-national-monument-creation\/\" target=\"_blank\">threw it out<\/a> in 2023, but an appeals court <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ca10.uscourts.gov\/sites\/ca10\/files\/opinions\/010111456571.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">revived last month<\/a>. It&#8217;s unclear how that case will proceed now that Trump has effectively provided the outcome the lawsuit sought.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Trump is decimating both Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments. Why it matters: Monday&#8217;s orders reduce protections on nearly 3 million acres in southern Utah, affecting more than 90% of each monument&#8217;s area. Driving the news: Grand Staircase-Escalante will lose nearly 1.7 of its 1.87 million acres Bears Ears&#8216; 1.36 million acres will&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/JXaXPpjqXhP90w9s-p4rcf10gkg=\/0x0:1920x1080\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/13\/1783961066936.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}